Wildflower Rush - Crested Butte

The Crested Butte course from Google Earth - 3 laps, 10 miles & 1600 feet each

The 3rd round of the Mountain States cup headed to Crested Butte for the classic Wildflower Rush. Drew Geer was the only Chipotle-Titus rider finishing 10th in the 40+ field. Crested Butte was as good as it gets. The snow is just melting off of the trails leaving only the highest ones un-ridable. The course meanders through lush green fields with the flowers just starting to come out.

This is one fantastic course - quite likely the best race course in Colorado! It starts up a single track climb through the aspens. The climb is steep, up to 20% grade, but smooth & very rideable. You are granted a short fire road break before the next aspen climb. The 2nd climb is not as steep & you are able to really motor though the narrow twisty course. The course then drops off the backside on a mix of road & single track followed by steep but short climbs back to the front. There is only a short fire road drop & then you join the DH & Super D courses through the "waterfall", a nice technical series of steep S turns & drops. The rest of the way back to the base is fast narrow single track. 3 laps of 10 miles with 1600 feet of climbing per lap.

One of the great features of this course is the constant up & down as you can see from this 3 lap profile.
Not one big monster climb.

Geer climbs up the smooth single track on the Wildflower course - maybe too much smiling & not enough pain but what can you do on a course like this.